Part 2: An Honest Review Of My 2015 Factory Lowered F700GS (aka Lara)

After traveling together with Lara for a total of 4000km, i believe another review of her is due. All riding except some 300km out of this 4000km is done with full panniers.

<Issues>
1. NOISE. I have discovered some whining noise coming from below the seat. Once heard I can't unheard it anymore. There are three noise patterns.
Pattern 1, when i sit dead centre on my seat, i can hear some whining sound like those from a running electric motor, coming from somewhere below and behind me. If I were to move my head so much to the front or rear, the noise will disappear. My dealer says they can't hear it as i claimed.

Pattern 2, there are again whining noise coming straight from the engine when i open throttle. I found this out by pure chance. I got soaked in the rain and was trying to dry my pants riding, so i opened my thighs to let more air coming in. When i open my thighs I hear the noise, and when I close my thighs the noise disappear. I believe I didn't realise about this in the past because my thighs were always firmly clamping the fuel tank therefore blocking the noise from reaching my ears.
Pattern 3, there is this rattling coming from around the engine head block. It's hard to describe how it sounds like, if you try to imagine rocking a few big needles in a bottle, that clanking noise is what it sounds like. I have no idea what it is.

2. LOW DOWN TORQUE. I know it isn't fair to compare to my last bike (sportster 883), and to be fair I have gotten used to Lara's low end torque and have since not stalled at the standstill. However I really believe for my future venture into the dirt road or gravel road riding, i would be better off to install a smaller front sprocket (to enlarge the torque by sacrificing top speed).
I was on a gravel surface the other day and I released the clutch just as always. However, Lara threatened to stall. In retrospect I believe it was because the tires have more ground contact on gravel compared to tarmac, hence the drop in comparative torque. I could have just registered this phenomenon in my head and tell myself to be careful next time, nevertheless, I think having a permanent solution is better than adapting to it on every changing situation. (i am a lazy rider)

3. GRIP HEATER. There are two stages of heating power on the heater grips. I turned it on to stage 1 (the weaker output) on a day with ambient temperature of 25 celsius degrees. My right palm and fingers could feel the heat quite OK, but not so with the left palm and fingers. I don't know if it is because i had to open up my palm to pull the clutch from time to time causing the air to come into my palm and cool my palm. Does anyone have the same feeling?





4. HEAD LAMP. Nope. Definitely not bright enough. Does anyone know how to make it brighter? for example is it better to change the bulb to LED type?

5. HANDLING. I have full panniers setup. I don't think the handling was anywhere near bad in this setup. However, when I remove the two side panniers on my way to Mount Fuji, I could tell the handling is definitely much lighter and the cornering was much more natural to the feeling. Does anyone feel the same way?

6. ENGINE. After the full throttle in Suzuka Circuit, I discovered that the engine definitely runs smoother now. There are some town legends saying that the BMW engines need to be revved hard to perform the way it is supposed to be, is there any wisdom or truth in this may i ask?























All and all I like Lara more and more. I hope you guys and enjoying your ride as well!

Cheers.